Perfect borders made easy

This project combines so many of my favorite things in crafting. It includes repetition, upcycling, bold color contrast, texture, and sewing. The best part, it's ridiculously simple to make!

All of the fabrics used for this project came from clothing I bought at a thrift store or from clothes in my closet that were headed for the thrift store. The red material is old placemats with a really great texture and weight to them. I used a pair of old jeans that my husband didn't want anymore, 2 shirts, 1 light-weight sweater, a cable knit sweater, and a wool sweater that I felted. I show a floral print shirt here, but in the end I changed my mind about using it!

This project could be made using any shape. I chose to use the bird die with the Fiskars Fuse.

The weight of each of the materials determined how I created each bird. The felted sweater was so thick I simply die cut a single layer and it was ready to go. For the other materials, I die cut 2 layers of material, 1 layer of fusible interfacing, and one layer of fusible web. (Fusible means the adhesive qualities are activated by heat from an iron.) The interfacing adds stiffness to the material and can be purchased in different weights. The material from the jeans and the placemat needed a lighter-weight interfacing than the material from the cable knit sweater and the shirts. Fusible web also comes in a variety of weights. I just used a lightweight one on all of the materials. First I applied the interfacing to one of the fabric layers and then applied the fusible web, followed by the second fabric layer.

Next, starting about 18 inches from the top, I sewed the birds to a length of twine using a zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine. I used the measuring tape on the Fiskars Sew Taxi to measure 2.25 inches between each of the birds, although they will slide up and down the twine for easy adjustment when the project is complete.

The final step was to tie the the strings of birds to a thin dowel rod.

With a little bit of closet cleaning, a couple of dollars in materials, and a relaxing day of crafting, I have a fun, colorful wall hanging!